ZIA ORPHANAGE CASE SENTENCE Khaleda not given verdict’s certified copy in 4 days

The trial court did not provide former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia with a certified copy of its verdict in last four days to enable her to appeal against her jail term.
On February 8, Dhaka special court 5’s judge read out the operative part of a 632-page verdict before sending the former prime minister to a solitary prison, the abandoned Dhaka Central Jail, for five years.
She was handed the sentence in the Zia Orphanage Trust Fund Corruption Case.
Her lawyer Aminul Islam told New Age that the judge of the trial court was silent after he informed him that the former prime minister had not been given the verdict’s certified copy.
The trial court officials told reporters that the judge took back the original verdict before copies could be made by the copying section.
On Sunday, Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum’s five-day country-wide protests kicked off to press the demand for setting Khaleda Zia free and withdrawal of all the cases against her.
The lawyers also protested against continuing country-wide blanket arrests of BNP leaders and activists that began on the eve of handing jail sentence to the former prime minister.
Among others, Supreme Court lawyers and BNP leaders Moudud Ahmed, Zainul Abedin, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin Ahmed, Nitai Roy Chowdhury and AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon addressed the first day’s protest demonstration held at the premises of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
The rival Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad criticized BNP for what it said trying to create smoke screen over the verdict.
Speaking at a news conference at the SCBA auditorium, held as a parallel programme, AAP joint convener Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said that the government had no hand in what the court handed to Khaleda Zia in its verdict.
The pro AL lawyers said that former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s conviction restored the rule of the law and ended the culture of influential persons showing their thumbs to law and justice.
They said that the former prime minister had been given the proper facilities she was entitled to and that there was no scope to create confusion over the issue.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net